Spin legend Shane Warne said that Australia should never emulate the playing style of their Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand as many has suggested.
After the ball-tampering scandal, wherein three cricketers – Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft – were suspended from the game, there were calls to change the culture of the Australian team.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for everyone in world cricket to draw a line in the sand and say ‘how do we want to play the game?’ ‘What do we stand for?’ ‘What’s the style of play we want?’ I don’t think we want to play like the Kiwis, which I heard someone say. I mean, c’mon. The Kiwis, no thank you,” he was quoted as saying by News Corporation.
“But we probably want something in between the Kiwis and Australia at the moment. I want us to play hard but fair, tough, uncompromising cricket, but shake hands and play in the spirit of the game and show good sportsmanship.
He also urged the Australian cricket team to stop “whingeing”.
Warne said he sensed a problem in the Australia camp when they started complaining about the opposition after things didn’t go their way.
“I’m not sure there were team culture problems but I have noticed there is a lot of whingeing coming out of the Australian camp in recent times, about the opposition and things like that,” Warne .
“I think that’s un-Australian, I have never really heard any Australian sides do that,” he added.